Commentary: How Chicago can avoid the looming global traffic crisis

By Samuel Kling

Chicago Tribune|

May 15, 2020 | 10:21 PM

As city leaders move beyond coping with the COVID-19 crisis to imagining the future, how to move — literally — poses a challenge.

In normal times, almost a third of Chicagoans commute by bus and train. But CTA ridership has plummeted by more than a million rides per day and is unlikely to rebound until a vaccine is developed and in widespread use. As Chicago transitions out of crisis, many people with options will choose more socially distant ways of traveling.

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Transportation experts worldwide fear a big, long-term surge in driving after the pandemic. Post-lockdown Shanghai and Beijing saw an immediate, unprecedented rise in car sales and car traffic. Chongqing’s traffic has reportedly outpaced levels from the same time last year. But transit ridership remains low, suggesting residents with means are trading bus passes for car keys.

This scenario threatens to disfigure travel patterns for the long term, jamming streets with cars to the point of paralysis. If even a fraction of transit rides become car trips during London’s reopening, a city official warns, “Our city’s economic recovery will be choked off.”

It would exacerbate the inequities highlighted by COVID-19, worsening air pollution on the South and West sides, where high rates of respiratory illness contribute to the appalling overrepresentation of African Americans among virus victims. Residents of vulnerable neighborhoods, with fewer transportation options and work-from-home jobs, would have to choose between nerve-wracking bus rides or terrible traffic and the onerous expense of a car.

It would worsen the world’s other crisis, climate change, to which transportation contributes more emissions than any other sector.

There is, however, a path forward. Remake our streets for human-scaled transportation — cycling, walking and scootering — and ensure safe, reliable public transit for residents who depend on it.

Human-scaled transportation offers a special benefit amid a pandemic: a way to move lots of people while maintaining social distance. It also promotes health and cleaner air in a city wracked by environmental inequalities.

City dwellers themselves have been the vanguard. U.S. shops report skyrocketing bike sales reminiscent of the 1970s oil crisis. Abroad, London’s transit agency predicts up to an eye-popping tenfold increase in cycling and fivefold increase in walking over pre-pandemic levels.

To adapt, cities are redefining their streets. Milan, Paris, London and others are planning unprecedented build-outs of bike and pedestrian space to pre-empt surging car traffic. The UK is spending $300 million on bike lanes while fast-tracking e-scooter pilots. A growing list of U.S. cities have created car-restricted “open streets” for cycling and walking, encouraged by the National Association of City Transportation Officials. Some, such as Seattle, are making these permanent.

No, not everyone can bike, walk or scoot, but those who do free up space on buses, trains and roadways.

Chicago, where 51% of car trips are under 3 miles, can adapt these ideas to local conditions. It can build on existing schemes such as the Streets for Cycling Plan and a campaign commitment from Mayor Lori Lightfoot to build 100 miles of bikeways. An ambitious program of protected lanes, wider sidewalks and open streets can enable necessary movement and necessary new patterns of movement.

Lightfoot hinted Friday that some of these changes may be in the works, saying in a tweet, “Stay tuned for some changes to our streets and sidewalks. Transportation is more than just cars.”

In a diverse, divided city like Chicago, this program must respect local context. In many predominantly black and brown neighborhoods, residents face concurrent prospects of few mobility options, poor infrastructure, unsafe spaces and police harassment. Racial equity and neighborhoods’ needs must be at the heart of the transformation.

Community groups and nonprofit bike co-ops, with strong local connections, can provide outreach and resources. (Disclosure: I volunteer for and serve on the board of one, The Recyclery.) The 2019 e-scooter pilot found some success in serving low-income, low-mobility areas, and this year’s pilot can do better to ensure accessible, affordable rides together with safe routes.

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Chicago could even go further, emulating Italy’s proposed bike/e-bike/scooter voucher worth up to 500 euros. Will the city spend that kind of money? No way, but unprecedented challenges call for creative ideas.

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They also call for coordinated action befitting the scale of the problem. In Chicago, whose last comprehensive city plan dates to 1966, this alone would be an achievement. As historians Bradford Hunt and Jan de Vries lament, Chicago’s tradition of ambitious urban planning — think Daniel Burnham — has often yielded to uninspiring, piecemeal projects. But the moment calls for transportation advocates to step up: upholding the critical importance of public transit together with the critical potential of human-scaled transportation.

The tragedy of the coronavirus pandemic brings new perspective on city life. With new perspective comes new possibility and an urgent call for a healthier, more equitable and more humane Chicago for the long term. Let’s heed it.

Samuel Kling is a global cities fellow and ACLS/Mellon Public Fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.